A Santa Lucia Day Song and Saying, plus why it’s a Festival of Light
Several days ago I wrote a post about the Santa Lucia holiday in Sweden and Scandinavia.
A popular saying associated with this holiday is:
Lucy Light,
The Shortest day &
The Longest Night.
This saying celebrates the association of St Lucia’s Day, December 13, with the Winter Solstice which, under the old Julian calendar, used to fall on that day.
This day is very significant in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. There, in December, the daylight time is very short and darkness and nighttime are extremely long, due to their position on the globe.
Lucia is another way of saying “Lucy”, which literally translates to “light”. (In English we can hear this connection in words like “Luminescent”.) After the Winter Solstice the days get longer. So St. Lucia is a celebration of the coming lengthening of the days.
You can see why the song Sankta Lucia is one of the most popular carols to sing. It has a beautiful, haunting melody and it’s all about the long night and the return of daylight. Here’s one version of Sankta Lucia in Swedish, followed by an English translation I did, the midi tune and a link to the sheet music.
Natten går tunga fjät
(Swedish)Natten går tunga fjät
rund gård och stuva;
kring jord, som sol förlät,
skuggorna ruva.
Då i vårt mörka hus,
stiger med tända ljus,
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.Natten går stor och stum
nu hörs dess vingar
i alla tysta rum
sus som av vingar.
Se, på vår tröskel står
vitklädd med ljus i hår
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.Mörkret ska flykta snart
ur jordens dalar
så hon ett underbart
ord till oss talar.
Dagen ska åter ny
stiga ur rosig sky
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.Night Walks with a Heavy Step
(English)Night walks with a heavy step
Round yard and hearth,
As the sun departs from earth,
Shadows are brooding.
There in our dark house,
Walking with lit candles,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!Night walks grand, yet silent,
Now hear its gentle wings,
In every room so hushed,
Whispering like wings.
Look, at our threshold stands,
White-clad with light in her hair,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!Darkness shall take flight soon,
From earth’s valleys.
So she speaks a
Wonderful Word to us:
A new day will rise again
From the rosy sky…
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!
Here’s a YouTube video of a performance of the song, from a Santa Lucia celebration in Sweden. The video is cut off at the beginning and the end, but it sounds very pretty and it gives an idea of what a St. Lucia Day concert is like.
Many thanks to Edward M. Gawlinski for the midi tune and sheet music!
-Mama Lisa
Note: The tune to Sankta Lucia comes from an Italian version of the song called “Santa Lucia”. There are also at least 3 different Swedish versions of this song.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Hi and thank you for your message on my blog. Yes you are right, I’m French but I speak Swedish, love Sweden and especially love Sankta Lucia. Natten gar tunga fjät (i don’t have all the Swedish letters on my French keyboard) is a tricky sentence. I would say just like you that it’s the night that comes with heavy steps although you should know that most Swedes don’t actually know what “fjät” means. But they sing it happily anyway. There are lots of alternative versions to the lyrics, the most famous being “Sankta Lucia, skänk mig en tia”. Can you translate this one?
Happy to have discovered your blog.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Thanks for writing “frog with a blog”!
FYI: “Frog with a blog” is referring to a post on his blog about Sankta Lucia. Since he speaks Swedish, I was asking him a question about the translation of the first line of the Sankta Lucia song.
I’m not familiar with “Sankta Lucia, skänk mig en tia”. Could you send me the lyrics to it – or a link where I could find it? Of course, I wouldn’t complain about an English translation either.
Glad to have discovered your blog too. I was rolling on the floor watching your Learn French in 5 minutes and 36 seconds video!
-Mama Lisa
December 12th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Hi!
I am from Sweden. The lyrics beginning with “Sankta Lucia, skänk mig en tia” is simply an irreverent version, usually sung by kids tired of the very beautiful but also boring singing.
The full lyrics fragment sung is as follows:
Sankta Lucia, skänk mig en tia
Inte en femma, det har jag hemma
Roughly translated:
Sankta Lucia, give me a tenner
not a fiver, I got that at home
(tenner = ten crown bill, fiver = five crown bill)
The fun being that it sounds exactly like the proper version.
Cheers,
Lars
December 12th, 2007 at 10:34 am
That’s funny! Thanks for the explanation.
I curious about the version they’re singing on YouTube at:
Saint Lucia in Sweden
I believe this is the Swedish text of that version…
Sankta Lucia, ljusklara hägring,
sprid i vår vinternatt glans av din fägring.
Drömmar med vingesus under oss sia,
tänd dina vita ljus, Sankta Lucia,
tänd dina vita ljus, Sankta Lucia.
Kom i din vita skrud, huld med din maning.
Skänk oss, du julens brud, julfröjders aning.
Drömmar med vingesus, under oss sia,
tänd dina vita ljus, Sankta Lucia.
tänd dina vita ljus, Sankta Lucia.
Does anyone know if this version is well-known? Would anyone like to provide an English translation?
Thanks in advance for any help! I’m trying to provide one place where people can find the different versions of the Santa Lucia songs.
-Mama Lisa
December 13th, 2007 at 11:14 am
[...] Last night Little Runner and I made special buns and this morning she woke Soccer Boy and Hubby up with a plate of buns and a travel mug of tea, while I carried the flashlight. Traditionally she’s also to wear a wreath of lit candles, but the flashlight worked nicely. We’re supposed to sing a song, too, but I don’t remember much of it, so we played a Youtube version of it that I found on Mama Lisa’s World Blog. [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 10:05 am
That version of Santa lucia is an alternitive, but not very famous. I am swedish,
~Anika
September 16th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I love the music. I think it sounds great even if I do not understand it being from America. But I love Sweeden. I wish I was there instead of a dry deseret.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
This song isn’t from America. It’s from Sweden. Though the tune to the song comes from an Italian song called “Santa Lucia”.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Can anyone tell me what the lyrics to the kid’s version of the English translation of Santa Lucia is? The English lyrics I have seen cannot easily be sung to the melody of the song.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Have anyone heard of any an English version containing words similar to these? I sang them when I was a kid but I forgot most of the words. I am hoping to find the complete song.
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